Ersoy, Sibel Raquel

Across the world, coal mines are closing. Shafts fall silent, conveyor belts stop running. While in the past these closures often stemmed from empty or uncompetitive pits, today closures are happening as a result of rapidly shifting geopolitics, changing markets, but also as milestones on the road to decarbonisation - often presented as signs of progress in climate action. Yet for communities living in and around former coal regions, the end of mining is not simply an environmental success story. It is a profound social rupture.